New Jersey 'Dreamers' say they don't want to be used as pawns for border wall money

President Donald Trump is offering to extend temporary protection for people brought to U.S. illegally as children in a bid to secure border wall funding. Trump has struggled to find a way out of a four-week partial government shutdown. (Jan. 19)
AP

President Donald Trump's offer Saturday to protect some undocumented immigrants in exchange for a $5.7 billion border wall frustrated and angered those who would be most affected by the deal if it were to be accepted by Democratic lawmakers.

The offer by Trump calls for protections for undocumented immigrants brought to the country as children and who are protected from deportation by a program known as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA, which include a group known as "Dreamers,'' as well as immigrants from certain countries who have Temporary Protected Status or TPS.

TPS is granted temporarily to foreign nationals living in the U.S. from countries experiencing natural disasters, armed conflict or extraordinary conditions.

Trump says Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will bring the proposal for a vote in the Senate this week. But Democrats, who control the House, are already saying they find the president's offer unacceptable.

Lidia Cruz Grande, 21, a DACA recipient, attended a rally at Rutgers University in Newark in March 2018 in support of Dreamers.(Photo11: Monsy Alvarado/northjersey.com)

"It kicks our communities down the road to be used as political pawns at the president's will while at the same time disincentives actual real solutions,'' said Tony Choi, a "Dreamer" who is protected by DACA and who grew up in Bergen County. "In simple words, 'This ain't it, chief.'''

Monserrath Campos, who grew up in Paterson and also has DACA protection, said the possibility of such a deal made her upset.

"I wish he would stop connecting the wall to DACA, we’re not a bargaining chip,'' she wrote in a message. "We are law abiding individuals WHO PAY TAXES, and deserve to be treated with respect and dignity."

Minutes before Trump unveiled his plan at the White House, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the president's proposal is a "non-starter." The California Democrat said early reports about the proposal indicated it was insufficient.

Immigrant advocates have been pushing for years for a so-called Dream Act, or some other legislation that would protect DACA recipients and others like them and offer them a path to citizenship.

Johanna Calle, director of the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice, said that the DACA and TPS crises were manufactured by Trump to use immigrant communities as "scapegoats for his own continued inability to move our country forward."

"This offer is a non-starter,'' she said. "It continues using our community as a negotiation chip for a symbol of hate and racism. Trump and his allies in Congress must reopen the government and bring real proposals that permanently solve the uncertainty that hurts our communities."

She said that comprehensive immigration reform has been supported by both Democrats and Republicans, and that anything less is "just a solution to a problem he created with the support of anti-immigrant Congress members."

Alondra Pegueros, of Morris County, immediately thought of her mother and other undocumented people in the United States who Trump did not mention in his speech or include for any protections as part of the offer.

“Donald Trump is trying to make this proposal so that it can work in my favor but also against me,’’ said Pegueros, a member of the Wind of the Spirit, an immigrant’s rights organization. “If my mom and brother end up being detained and deported back to Mexico while I am protected under Trump’s proposal, I will feel guilt for being a DACA recipient while my family is not secured and the help he thinks he’s offering can turn into a nightmare.”

The Trump administration announced in September 2017 that it would begin to phase out the DACA program, which was created in 2012 under President Barack Obama. It allows those who qualify to receive Social Security numbers as well as work permits and temporary protection from deportation. The program does not provide a path to citizenship, but it allows qualifying undocumented immigrants to live and work legally in the United States and, in some states, apply for driver’s licenses without fear of deportation.

The march was schedule for March 5, the day the Trump administration said it would shut down the DACA program without a legislative solution from Congress. No law has been passed, but a pair of federal court rulings have kept the program alive for now.(Photo11: Monsy Alvarado/NorthJersey.com)

More than 800,000 undocumented immigrants have received deportation protection under DACA since it began six years ago. More than 17,000 DACA recipients are from New Jersey. Federal judges blocked the Trump administration from ending the program, and the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to announce whether or not it will hear Trump's appeal on DACA.

The Trump administration announced last year it planned to end TPS for several countries, starting this year. TPS holders have lived in the country for years, own homes, have children who are U.S. citizens, and they have said they cannot leave their families and lives behind.

In October, a federal judge in California put a hold on Trump's plans to end TPS for El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua and Sudan.

Said Burlington County's Daniela Velez, a DACA recipient who was born in Venezuela: "I don’t see a real solution to the problem and it is inhumane. As we have seen this administration try to end both DACA and TPS, creating this doesn’t solve the problem. It provides a temp solution as a way of making it seem like it could really lead up to something.

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"Communities of color are tired of being in limbo and being used as human pawns in a game of chess. To try to build a wall is inhumane and I say it over again, we need human and permanent solutions not just for the undocumented communities but also for making sure that legal immigration is not cut or in danger."

More than 430,000 people across the country have TPS, including more than 19,700 who were living in New Jersey when they applied for the program, according to 2017 figures from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.